I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for managing a handover operation in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services can be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems can be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO), multiple-in-signal-out (MISO), or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
Devices in a wireless communication system, such as terminals, base stations, etc., can communicate by encapsulating information into respective packets that can be transmitted over predetermined resources in time, frequency, code, or the like. Further, respective packets can be configured such that a receiving entity can be made aware of the existence of missed and/or otherwise incorrectly received packets and, in some cases, request re-transmission of such packets.
In one example, packet re-transmission can be requested during a handover of a terminal from a source network cell to a target network cell via status messages at the terminal and/or the target cell. However, due to various factors, such as scheduler configuration at the terminal and/or target cell, transmission of status messages can in some cases be delayed or omitted following a handover. Without the benefit of such status messages, it can be appreciated that an entity to which a device transmits status messages may acquire little to no information relating to missed packets for which re-transmission is desired. This lack of status information can cause a given network device to re-transmit substantially no data, which in turn can result in data loss at an entity receiving packets. Alternatively, a lack of status information can cause a network device to conduct redundant re-transmission of a significant amount of data already correctly obtained by an entity receiving the data, which can result in unnecessary bandwidth consumption. Accordingly, it would be desirable to implement improved re-transmission management techniques that mitigate at least the above shortcomings.